Page 63 of Second Round

She turned to me and smiled. Caught in the golden gaze of her attention, I felt half-seduced too. No wonder every man at this table wanted to put a ring on her. She was aqueen.

“Tell me about yourself, Jackie. What is yourprofession?”

“I have a few jobs,” I replied. Unfortunately none of those jobs really had an impressive title. Bargain shopper? Stay-at-home-most-of-the-time Mom? Aspiring artist? Art store clerk? “Uh, mainly in arts and design. What do you do,Sophie?”

“I work for Group Germaine, the hotel chain. I am in corporatemarketing.”

“Wow, that soundsimpressive.”

She laughed. “Well, it was certainly hard to get so much time off.Certainement, this voyage, with Wes, it’s once in alifetime.”

“It sounds incredible. I can’t even imagine what it would like to be a boat tripthatlong.”

Wes answered, “Being on the ocean gives man insight intohissoul.”

“Is that a quote?” I asked. Wes didn’t strike me as aliterarytype.

“Nah, I just made it up.” He laughed, and Sophiesmiled.

She turned back to me. “You havechildren?”

“Yes,two.”

“What aretheirages?”

“Hannah is twelve and Tristanisten.”

Sophie smiled. “Bon. Charlotte, you will have built-inplaymateshere.”

Charlotte didn’t look exactly pleased at that idea. In fact, she lookedworried.

“Well, that will be up to Charlotte to decide,”Isaid.

“But it is unavoidable, is it not?” Sophieasked.

I looked at her, puzzled. “What doyoumean?”

“Are you not looking after Charlotte when Leo isworking?”

“No, of course not. What gave youthatidea?”

Leo interrupted. “I’ve hired a nanny. Her name is NoelleNowak.”

Was this something we should be talking about now? I could see that Charlotte was listening veryintently.

“Ahh, I see,” Sophie said. She turned to Leo. “Noelle, c’est la femme qui va s’occuper de ma fille cet été. Peut-être que c’est Noelle que tu devrais inviter à diner au lieu de cettefemme-ci.”

Leo’s face was completely unreadable, but the pulse on his temple was throbbing. “Don’t,Sophie.”

I had no idea what she said, but Noelle’s name was mentioned. I rushed in to reassure her that she would do a good job. “Noelle has worked as a camp counsellor and a soccer coach. She’s very experienced with kids. She was recommended to me by two differentpeople.”

“C’est pas grave.” Sophie shook her head.“You must excuse me. I’m spoiled because both Leo’s mother and mine have always been able to babysit Charlotte. We’ve never had to leave her with a totalstranger.”

“I understand, but Noelle’s a lovely girl. And I’m here as back-up if there anyproblems.”

Sophie smiled. “How kind of you,Jackie.”

Wes changed the subject back to their upcoming ocean voyage, and Leo jumped in with some logistical questions. I tried to figure out why there was so much tension after Leo mentionedNoelle.

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